HHhH: "Himmlers Hirn heisst Heydrich," or "Himmler's brain is called Heydrich." The most dangerous man in Hitler's cabinet, Reinhard Heydrich was known as the "Butcher of Prague." He was feared by all and loathed by most. With his cold Aryan features and implacable cruelty, Heydrich seemed indestructible-until two men, a Slovak and a Czech recruited by the British secret service-killed him in broad daylight on a bustling street in Prague, and thus changed the course of History.

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HHhH: "Himmlers Hirn heisst Heydrich," or "Himmler's brain is called Heydrich." The most dangerous man in Hitler's cabinet, Reinhard Heydrich was known as the "Butcher of Prague." He was feared by all and loathed by most. With his cold Aryan features and implacable cruelty, Heydrich seemed indestructible - until two men, a Slovak and a Czech recruited by the British secret service - killed him in broad daylight on a bustling street in Prague, and thus changed the course of History.

Who were these men, arguably two of the most discreet heroes of the twentieth century? In Laurent Binet's captivating debut novel, we follow Jozef Gabcik and Jan Kubiš from their dramatic escape of Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia to England; from their recruitment to their harrowing parachute drop into a war zone, from their stealth attack on Heydrich's car to their own brutal death in the basement of a Prague church.

A seemingly effortlessly blend of historical truth, personal memory, and Laurent Binet's remarkable imagination, HHhH- an international best seller and winner of the prestigious Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman - is a work at once thrilling and intellectually engrossing, a fast-paced novel of the Second World War that is also a profound meditation on the nature of writing and the debt we owe to history.

An interesting narrative about the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. The title comes from the SS phrase: "Himlers Hirn heisst Heydrich" ("Himmler's brain is called Heydrich"). Instead of telling the story as a straight historical narrative, Laurent Binet weaves himself throughout the main narrative. It becomes in parts a contrived post-modern mediation on truth, fiction, and the author. I want to give Binet points for trying to create a novel that possesses gravitas, is interesting, is tense, but also isn't traditional. Throughout the novel I was cheering for Binet like I was cheering for Jozef Gabcik and Jan Kubis, but while Binet takes huge risks with this novel he just doesn't cleanly land his bold quadruple H.

I loved the way the author told this story. The narrator of the story is a writer who has the facts about the real events that took place in this WW2 story and then builds the back story of the main characters. While being as factual as he can be he acknowledges that he has to create some of what the characters were likely thinking or feeling. This is why it is a novel and not a non-fiction history. He tells us what he is doing and I found the commentary he interjected while writing the story very entertaining. I really am not explaining this well; suffice is to say I really enjoyed this book. I was anxious to go back to it everytime I had to put it down.

The reader did a great job. He was very easy to listen to and captured the tone of the story perfectly.

The actual story and history that the book wants to tell is compelling. But the weird method of telling the story gets in the way.

Any additional comments?

This should have been a much better book considering the story it aims to tell about the assassination of Heidrich. The problem with the book is that the author is writing about his attempt to write this story. In PAINFUL detail. He literally interrupts the story to say things like, "I was going to write that Heidrich had pancakes for breakfast, but I didn't know for sure if that would be historically accurate". I'm not making this up. WTF?? The first three chapters of the book are the author's ramblings about thinking about writing a book. I thought it was just a lengthy FOREWARD or something.

I don't know why he wrote the book this way. It seems like it would have been a compelling story and at times it starts to be, then the author interjects something like, "I wrote this sentence but my girlfriend didn't like it, but I kept it anyway." ugh.

Judging from Laurent Binet’s “HHhH”, Hitler may be the only WWII leader who earns a lower place in Dante’s circles of hell than Reinhard Heydrich. Except for those steeped in history, the name Reinhard Heydrich does not resonate like Eichmann, Goebbels, Himmler, and Hitler. Heydrich is Hitler’s action-man, an organizer and perpetrator of the “final solution” that exemplifies the world’s shame.

Heydrich is called the “blond beast”, an image suggesting a golden-haired Teutonic giant wielding a canister of Zyklon B in one hand and a German Luger in the other. When looking at a picture of Heydrich, the image seems in error. Pictures of Heydrich show a man who is far from handsome with a receding hairline, enormous nose, and tiredly furtive eyes. Heydrich’s tight lipped, unsmiling, and elongated face is menacing. He looks like a stern father or teacher; capable of whipping or smacking knuckles of a child with a leather belt or an 18” ruler. Based on Binet’s “HHhH”, Heydrich is considerably worse than a stern father or teacher. Heydrich is a mass murderer with an education equal to Leopold and Loeb, a murdering mentality rivaling Pol Pot, and a policy instinct reminiscent of Joseph Stalin.

The denouement of Binet’s book is the attempted assassination of Heydrich by two Czechoslovakian patriots, Jozef Gabcik and Jan Kubis. These two men, one is Czech and the other Slovak, know they are unlikely to survive the attempt but become symbols of allied resistance to German occupation. An interesting aspect of this novel, other than its factual reporting, is Binet’s first person narration that is concerned with history’s fictionalization. It is a panegyric on the impossibility of truly writing an accurate history of historical events.

In the end, Binet’s factual veracity seems better than average but he acknowledges his story is, after all, a historical novel, a fictionalized presentation of actual events. In spite of history’s reporting limitations, a listener will know a lot more about Reinhard Heydrich after reading or listening to “HHhH”.

HHhH is a vivid and emotional retelling of an almost unbelievable true story, and kept me in suspense, ready to find out what happened next. I greatly enjoyed the voicing of both author and reader. (And translator.)

Strictly speaking, this book doesn't just tell the story of heroic WW2 soldiers and horrible Nazi think tanks. While that is the main thrust of the narrative, the book includes a rich view of the political and social climate, enriching the overall world of the story. By meandering into beginnings of other equally fascinating stories, Binet provides connective tissue of each historic thread. And he does so in a way that is extremely interesting, rather than a distraction from the main story. Continuing with the postmodern form, we're also let in on the author's personal obsessive information hunt, nagging creative insecurities, and life difficulties. What fun to hear about his process of making the novel!

I found the story both a thoughtful retelling and an engaging page-turner… Is "page-turner" an appropriate word for audiobooks?

Interesting take on a pretty well documented subject, ie. the allied plot to assassinate Heydrich, architect of the final solution. Interweaves the historical parts with the author's experiences in writing the book. Some reviewers seemed to dislike this aspect but I thought it added a contemporary emotional dimension to what otherwise could have been a sterile story. Overall, it is good history mixed with thrilling storytelling.

I really liked this audiobook. I thought the narrator and the material were a great fit and I thought the story was told in an interesting fashion. Prior to listening to this audiobook I had never even heard of Reinhard Heydrich, or if I had I certainly didn’t remember him. After listening, I clearly understood how great of a role he played within the Nazi regime. There are also a number of interesting side-stories that Binet recounts that don’t directly relate to Heydrich’s tale but took place during the time and work well with the story – giving it a richer texture. It’s not a surprise that HHhH won the Prix Goncourt and garnered so much high praise from reviewers. It’s entertaining, informative, and well written/translated.

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